


Negotiated Settlement

by Aurae



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Armitage Hux Being An Asshole, Exchange Assignment, F/M, Missions Gone Wrong, RFFA Valentine's Exchange 2020, Redeemed Ben Solo, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22281385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurae/pseuds/Aurae
Summary: General Leia Organa has brought a small team with her to Kaytuu 5, expecting to negotiate a ceasefire between the First Order-controlled planetary government and local Resistance fighters.Unfortunately, Supreme Leader Armitage Hux has other plans. Rey will need the assistance of a Certain Someone who no longer calls himself Kylo Ren if she and her friends are to save the day.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49
Collections: For one is both and both are one in love: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	Negotiated Settlement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ilum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilum/gifts).



> Challenge Prompt: _TROS-rewrite, where Palpatine never returns. Instead, Hux begins to quietly turn the First Order military against Kylo Ren. He eventually manages to stage a coup and overthrow Kylo, appointing himself the new Supreme Leader and vowing to crush what's left of the Resistance. The Resistance have been recuperating after the Battle of Crait, travelling the galaxy to spread hope and recruit new allies. Kylo, betrayed and on the run, finally contacts Rey via the Force Bond, asking her to meet on some planet, away from the FO and the Resistance. She agrees to help him and tries to hide him, but it's only a matter of time before the Resistance finds out about their newly redeemed, reluctant ally..._
> 
> The story which follows begins where this prompt synopsis ends!

A cacophony of porg calls woke him at the crack of dawn each and every morning. The noise had thoroughly infuriated and nearly driven him insane at first, but—after much swearing and tearing of hair—he’d succeeded in learning to live and let live with his raucous island neighbors.

Ben Solo stretched and reached for the freshly laundered clothing which had been left folded neatly for him. He owned only the clothes he’d been wearing on his arrival here, but thanks to the Lanai Caretakers, those were sufficient. And if fabric that had once been night black had been faded by salt and sun to an indeterminate shade of medium gray? Black, after all, was just a color…

…and Ben wasn’t Kylo Ren anymore. He wasn’t Supreme Leader of the First Order anymore, either. That sleemo Hux had orchestrated a coup, and Kylo had been the fool who’d never even seen the betrayal coming. Now the galaxy believed Kylo Ren was dead, and in a very real sense they were right.

“Hmm. Out of milk.” Looked like he’d have to go fetch some more if he wanted breakfast. Ben grabbed an empty milk canister and started walking down toward the rocky shoreline.

He’d barely escaped the coup with his life. Afterwards, he’d thrown himself on the tender mercies of the only being in the galaxy he thought might show him any. And Rey had come through. She’d hidden him from both the First Order _and_ her friends with the Resistance here on Ahch-To, the site of both the First Jedi Temple and his uncle and Jedi Master Luke’s untimely demise. The irony. Ben figured his mother knew the truth, though, and kept it to herself—

 _His mother. And Rey too!_ Ben skidded to a halt dead in his tracks as a disturbance in the Force rippled through him. _They were in terrible danger._

Rey had assumed that Ben would not be able to leave Ahch-To. Fortunately, she’d completely forgotten about Luke’s old X-wing.

***

“No! You promised to play by the rules!”

Supreme Leader Hux favored Rey with a contemptuous sneer. “Only losers play by the rules, scavenger scum. Winners do whatever it takes to win.” He snapped his fingers, and four stormtroopers materialized out of nowhere, two behind Rey and two more behind General Organa. “Take them away! We’ll deal with them after we’ve finished with Kaytuutown.”

They’d come to Kaytuu to help negotiate a ceasefire between the First Order-controlled planetary government and local Resistance fighters. They’d been expecting a beleaguered world tired of war and ready to submit to First Order rule if it meant a return to stability and superficial normalcy. Although Poe, Finn, Rose, and the rest had wanted to continue fighting for Kaytuu, Leia had deemed it unwise to persist in the face of clear opposition from the Kaytuuan civilian population.

This wasn’t a good outcome for the Resistance by any means, but after Crait the Resistance had not been in a position of strength. Under the circumstances they’d been given, an organized retreat would be best for everybody.

And so they’d made planetfall under the flag of truce. They had not been expecting to be betrayed. Maybe they should have—this _was_ Hux, after all.

“ _General—_ ” Rey began urgently.

“Go,” Leia said, radiating calm and placidity.

“You heard the traitor,” one of the stormtroopers behind Rey said, prodding her between the shoulder blades with the business end of a blaster rifle. “Start walking.”

There were at least twenty stormtroopers in the immediate vicinity—too many for Rey to take on singlehandedly without also risking Leia’s life but _not_ too many to prevent Rey from making a personal break for freedom. Leia had already given her permission; Rey just had to wait for the right moment.

She didn’t have to wait long.

As they turned the final corner down the corridor, the turbolifts linked to the capitol palace’s detention cells directly ahead, Rey saw her chance. With a Force-assisted leap, she flipped backwards feet first into one of her two stormtrooper escorts. She pushed off and landed hard on the second, sending him flying headlong into another of his regiment mates. In the ensuing chaos, Rey ran for her life.

By the time she made it out of the capitol palace and onto streets of Kaytuutown, the First Order had begun its aerial attack of the planet. Apparently the First Order military philosophy in operation on Kaytuu was as follows: Why bother negotiating a ceasefire with enemies who’ve already surrendered when you can just pound them back to their constituent atoms instead? Collateral damage, you ask? Immaterial! Rey dodged several falling buildings and twice as many smoking craters in the pavement before reconvening with a frantic Resistance ground team.

“Finn and Poe are organizing civilian personnel evacuations, but Rey, it’s _bad_ out there! The First Order has the planet blockaded from orbit! We’re completely boxed in. Chewbacca can’t even get the _Falcon_ through to—oh _shit_ ,” Rose gasped as belatedly she realized exactly who hadn’t been seen returning with Rey. “Where’s General Organa?”

“She ordered me to leave her behind and escape while I could,” Rey explained. She knew her face was twisted with worry when she ought to look confident, but she couldn’t help it. “She’ll be okay for now. She’s too valuable a prisoner to do anyth—”

A municipal klaxon sounded, shrill even above the crash and boom of aerial bombardment.

“ _Now_ what the hells—?!” Rose shouted.

The klaxon blared a second time. And a third. Then the bland, artificial voice of a purpose-built PSA droid began to speak:

“This is a public service announcement. This is a public service announcement. The traitor Leia Organa has been taken prisoner by the First Order. As she has already been convicted _in absentia_ of countless high crimes, including but not limited to first-degree murder, treason, terrorism, and deliberate incitement to humanocide, she will be executed at 0900 hours tomorrow. The execution will be publicly witnessed on Kaytuu 5 and live broadcast galaxy-wide via the HoloNet. Thank you very much for your attention. You may now return to your regularly scheduled business.”

One final klaxon blared. Rey and Rose stared at each other in horror. “What’s your plan?” they both said simultaneously.

***

The plan, such as it was, was as simple and straightforward as they could manage:

PHASE ONE) Rose and Finn would create a distraction at the planetary self-defense and law enforcement garrison, which was currently staffed by First Order sympathizers, situated on the outskirts of Kaytuutown. This was intended to sow chaos and distract from the rest of the team members’ activities.

PHASE TWO) Poe would sneak into the Kaytuutown spaceport and commandeer a First Order shuttle.

PHASE THREE) Rey would rescue Leia at the site of her planned execution, where security would be tight but not completely impenetrable—since it was to be a publicly-witnessed event (thank the Gods of Sand and Sun for Hux’s vainglorious tendencies).

PHASE FOUR) Flee Kaytuu 5 on the commandeered shuttle and live to fight another day.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, uhh…a lot of things, as it turned out.

Phase One of their plan went about as smoothly as could be expected. A series of timed thermal detonators in the barracks and a whole lot of guerrilla-style shooting was indeed creating confusion and forcing _ad hoc_ redeployments. For all the First Order knew, they had full scale insurrection on their hands! Rey couldn’t help but smile thinly at the shouted updates coming in through her wrist comlink from Rose and Finn—they were doing a great job.

Poe, however, seemed to be doing a less-than-great job at the spaceport. The point was to sneak in a commandeer a shuttle _quietly_ , but somehow Poe had managed to trip every security alarm that crossed his path. Although Leia’s execution was situated in a public square over four kilometers away, Rey could _still_ hear the spaceport going under heavy lockdown. That Poe would eventually make it out with the fastest shuttle he could find, Rey did not doubt, but she also did not doubt that he would have at least three TIE squadrons screaming hot in pursuit after him when he did.

Which meant that she and Leia would have to be ready to leave in a _very_ big hurry.

“Pick up Rose and Finn first, Poe,” Rey reminded Poe via comlink. “We need to make sure we’re out of atmosphere and jumping to hyperspace as soon as we have General Organa secured!”

“Argh—!” Sounds of blaster fire. “Can’t ya tell I’m a little busy here!” Was he talking to Rey or the stormtroopers who were undoubtedly shooting at him? Ah well—it didn’t matter. More blaster fire. “Ah ha ha, _gotcha_! What was I…? Oh right. But umm, Rey, Leia should take first priority—” Poe had protested.

“Just do it, okay? I have a feeling.”

“Yeah, suuuure. A feeling.”

Rey shook her head as she switched her comlink off. She couldn’t afford to be distracted by her teammates’ chatter any longer. She was just going to have to trust them to do the right thing—and, in Poe’s case, to trust her judgment.

Finding a suitable vantage point was not easy. The crowd was thick on three sides of the raised stage upon which the execution would be conducted, and security was tight. Rey had hoped to intercept Leia before she was brought up onto that stage, but this had proved impossible. Hux was there too, of course, surrounded by handpicked cronies who were impossible to mind-trick and speechifying senseless blather about the immoral Republic, blah blah blah, the impotent terrorist Resistance, blah blah blah, and the security to law-abiding beings the First Order was bringing to systems throughout the known galaxy…

Leia was to be executed by firing squad. Hux would likely have preferred something more painful and/or gruesome, but a firing squad was standard for capital crimes meriting the death penalty on Kaytuu 5, and Hux had apparently agreed to abide by it. Good thing, Rey reflected, that he was so longwinded; the speechifying gave the rest of her team more time.

“—began a career of treason and terrorism at a foolishly young age. Most other princesses would be planning their royal birthday bashes,” Hux continued, gesturing contemptuously again and again in the direction of Leia, who looked calm and dignified, “but Leia Organa? By the age of nineteen the Emperor was so incensed by Alderaan’s defiance and its Princess’s lack of respect for his rule that he made a show of destroying the planet and its people—”

Rey burst into action as soon as she heard the distant scream of TIE fighter engines coming from the direction of the spaceport. That would be Poe, coming in hot.

“What the—?” Hux barked.

“ _Now_ Poe! Hurry!” Rey yelled into her comlink.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Rey sprinted and made a flying leap over the shocked crowd of spectators and landed on the podium directly behind Leia. Then she broke through Leia’s electrocuff restraints. “Let’s go!” Leia didn’t need to be told twice…but…ah, oh dear, there appeared, as Threepio would say, to be a problem…

 _Poe was not in position._ He had at least _six_ TIE squadrons after him, not three, and he couldn’t shake them. About the best he could do was return fire and try not to get blown to bits.

“Don’t let them get away!!” Hux shrilled as his protective detail escorted him off the podium.

That pretty much went without saying. Stormtroopers had them surrounded. Rey ignited her lightsaber—she would defend them both as long as necessary. Rey cut down a stormtrooper. And another, and another. She Force-pushed yet another into three others. Hux was getting away, but he could wait. They would deal with him when the circumstances were more favorable. Protecting Leia took priority. Rey just had to buy Poe enough time to bring his shuttle in close enough for them to board—!

“Heads up! Here we come!” Finn’s voice, alerting Rey via comlink to the imminent arrival of Poe’s shuttle, swooping toward them with a TIE less than a second behind—no, he wasn’t going to make it—no no noooo, the TIE was repositioning its cannons to fire on _Rey and Leia—_

And the TIE behind the shuttle exploded. The _Millennium Falcon_ shot past, tracing a parabolic arc in the sky.

“Chewie?! How did you get through??” Rey heard Finn yell.

But it wasn’t Chewbacca. The Wookiee was a fantastic pilot, but he couldn’t fly like _that_. Rey already knew. Somehow, she just knew. _The pilot was Ben._

***

They all made it off of Kaytuu 5 and arrived at the planned rendezvous point alive and safe. After that, they learned who had saved the day.

“Hi. I’m Matt?” Ben tried.

“Ha ha. Yeah, no. I know exactly who you are—you’re Kylo Ren!” Poe said.

“He’s not Kylo Ren anymore,” Rey interjected before Ben could begin glowering too darkly. “He’s Ben.”

“You knew and didn’t tell us?! Rey, how could you protect this piece of shit?!” Finn wailed, appalled.

“She saved my life,” Ben said. “I thought I should return the favor. My mother”—at this Ben glanced at Leia, who was standing off to one side, the ghost of a smile, enigmatic but benevolent, _indulgent_ , on her lips—“taught me that returning favors was good manners.”

“You have no right, no right whatsoever to call Leia your moth—” Poe huffed.

“Oh, lay off him,” Rose said. “ _Ben_ saved our lives today.”

And he had. So they did. At least for a little while. He’d have to do a lot more than what he’d done today to really earn their trust.

What he’d done today _had_ , however, been enough to earn a happy, grabby kiss from Rey…and later, when they were alone, she managed to grab a lot more than just a kiss from him.

This was to be a new beginning.

END

**Author's Note:**

> Posted to the exchange on January 21, 2020.


End file.
